7 journalers for this copy...

Tyranny as seen through the eyes of a child. Having lived in the middle east for 25 years, I know all too well the secrets that Islamic families keep, particularly the women. And there are few people this days who are ignorant of the repressing in Islamic countries. Aren't we, as the enlightened West, obliged to lead these people out of darkness? Even if we have to drag them kicking and screaming?

This arrived in the post today, with several other packages too. Hurrah! It never rains but it pours! Wonderful! Thank you, DeeKay57, for being so generous to send it so far. I look forward to reading this.

This is a book I started (just barely) in 2011, I thought it would be slow, but it was actually very easy to read. The writer has a beautiful writing style that is deceptively simple, but amazingly good. I want to learn from it. It’s very simple. It is, in fact, one of the few books written in the first person viewpoint of a child that feels like a child. He tells it like he would have seen it really being nine. I doubt I could re-read it, though; I found parts of it so sad. But that was another strength of the book, imo—its total honesty by and about its protagonist, and his parents. While I was often disappointed in his behaviour, he was a child, and his actions rang true. The conclusions, though small and quiet, were also fulfilling. It felt true, not like fiction. It’s a good book to start the year with. But so sad. Finished it late at night on January 10th.

Even if I'm journaling this one just now, I've read it a while ago, during summer vacations, in August. Before coming back home I read a number of other books, and I forgot to make the journal entry; sorry for that.

I liked this book a lot and it was a great, swift read, but I must say I couldn't quite empathize or even believe the main character, Suleiman, a 9-year-old boy who indulges in inexplicable cruel behaviour. As I didn't the other characters, his mother Najwa or his father Faraj. And this is why, I guess, I can't think of it as a great book. Nevertheless, I loved the way the two stories told (the subjugation of Najwa to the rule of men and the forefathers, and the subjugation of Faraj to the rule of the regime) intertwine and complete each other as a critique of contemporary Arab society, where women must still adhere to strict moral codes while the ruling regime loudly proclaims a total break with the past.

Thanks a lot Arvores, for borrowing this one to me. It'll go back home as soon as I finish the other one you sent me, ok?

Such a claustrophobic novel. I felt depressed and oppressed by the heat, the surveillance, the regime, the narrowness. At first I liked the boy, Suleiman, and really empathized with him. But then I started to dislike him, all his betrayal games and malice. I liked his mother even with all her fragilities, even when she decided to be submissive to her neighbours. This book tells a lot about the condition of women in certain countries and regimes. I guess that what I really liked about this novel was the fact that all the characters were very well shaped, every one of them had a good side and a bad side, they were all so human, strong and fragile. Nothing was completely black or white, except the regime, the "Guide" and his followers, of course.

The book is now on its way to sakirmo (shipped yesterday), after the wishlist tag game.

This book covers an interesting topic and is of course well-written, but also bit long-winded at times, I often found my thoughts wandering to other stuff while reading it. Those images of interrogations & their consequences were vivid and chilling though...

I got the book at today's BC meet-up at Forum's Espresso House. Thank you sakirmo and the courier(s)! So far I've read only one book by Matar, Anatomy of a Disappearance, or actually its Finnish translation Erään katoamisen anatomia (http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/13442401/), so I'm looking forward to reading this.